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Eli Manning back as starting QB in time for Dallas game

EAST RUTHERFORD — Old is new again when it comes to the starting quarterback of the Giants, and despite new being a week older than he was when he was benched because the organization promised to go younger at

Eli Manning back as starting QB in time for Dallas game

Peyton Manning says he's talked to his brother Eli, the Giants quarterback, as he takes questions about the College Hall of Fame on Tuesday in New York.
Art Stapleton/NorthJersey.com

Giants quarterback Eli Manning leaves the field after the loss against the Raiders at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday. His streak of consecutive starts ended at 210 when the Giants chose to start Geno Smith instead.(Photo: Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports)

EAST RUTHERFORD — Old is new again when it comes to the starting quarterback of the Giants, and despite new being a week older than he was when he was benched because the organization promised to go younger at the position.

It’s hard to call it a comeback, because Eli Manning has been here for years - 14 seasons, to be exact - and now he’s back as QB1.

After being benched for one game by the now-fired head coach Ben McAdoo, Manning will be the Giants’ starting quarterback for Sunday’s 1 p.m. home game against the Dallas Cowboys, a source confirmed to The Record and NorthJersey.com.

With interim coach Steve Spagnuolo being promoted from defensive coordinator for the Giants’ final four games in place of McAdoo, the belief in the aftermath of co-owner and team president John Mara’s news conference Monday was that Manning would be back as the starter this week.

Spagnuolo is scheduled to meet with the media for the first time since Monday’s firing of McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese after practice Wednesday, and the belief is that he will make Manning’s return to the top of the depth chart ahead of Geno Smith official.

Manning had said in a Monday interview with WFAN radio that he went to Spagnuolo late Monday and expressed his desire to return to that capacity after not playing in Oakland.

“I hope I’m the starting quarterback,” he said. “I went [Monday]. I did speak with Coach Spagnuolo for a little bit. It had only been 30 minutes since I had been told he was the head coach. I told him I wanted to be the starting quarterback. I want to be out there and help us go win these four games. I hope I’m out there on Sunday playing against the Cowboys.”

A tumultuous week for Manning and the Giants included an outpouring of support from fans and former players, some of whom were reportedly vowing to wear his No. 10 jersey on the sideline Sunday to show their displeasure.

Even after watching Smith and the Giants continue the offensive struggles against the Raiders, falling to 2-10 in what has been a miserable season for all involved, Manning has stuck to the high road despite taking McAdoo’s benching - at least the way he went about presenting it to the two-time Super Bowl MVP - to heart.

“Just being told that I wasn’t being asked to go win a football game for the New York Giants, that was the toughest part when they said I was going to be taken out at some point,” Manning said when asked to recall the most difficult part of the last week. “For 14 years and since I became the starting quarterback, that’s what being the starting quarterback is: When you’re playing that week, and you’re out there for that first series, and you’re expected to go win a football game. Every game I played in, 210 straight games, that’s what was asked of me. I didn’t get a win every single time, but I was expected to and the fans and my teammates and my coaches believed that I could do it and it was important. This week that wasn’t the case. I love playing quarterback for the New York Giants. I love this organization and the relationships that have been built. I came here and I was 23 years old, just a little kid, and I’ve kind of grown up around the people in the organization, the coaches, the video people, the training room. I’ve loved every second of it and a part of me was taken away when that was said. It crushed me a little bit.”

Manning will get another chance at MetLife Stadium in front of the home crowd, a chance to start a new streak that should end again before this season is out if the Giants do what is best for all involved. The right move was always to have Manning hand the baton to Webb, at least initially, and then depending on the latter’s audition, potentially the Giants’ first-round pick next April.

It might not have been fair to Smith, but the way things played out made little sense.

It’s on McAdoo for not getting Webb ready to play sooner. This isn’t a plan that should have been dreamed up after the Giants were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on Thanksgiving weekend, even if it was not implemented until then.

But McAdoo pushed forward with Smith, even though he deemed Webb not ready, and that might not be the reason he is no longer head coach, according to Mara; it will be the lasting impression, however.

With Manning back in command of the huddle, the Giants should let him start the next two games: Dallas on Sunday and then Philadelphia the following week at MetLife.

Webb should be active against the Cowboys and the Eagles, and if the game gets out of hand, give him his first taste of regular season NFL action.

All the while, the Giants should have Christmas Eve in Arizona as the target to give Webb his first career start, followed by the regular season finale against Washington in the Meadowlands. Manning has been mentoring the 22-year-old Webb all season, and knowing he could end up in a similar role in 2018 if he stays with either Webb or another rookie hoping to one day fill his shoes.

“I can’t speak for him, but I know Eli loves New York,” his father Archie Manning said Tuesday at a news conference celebrating the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017, of which Peyton Manning is a part. “I know he loves playing for the Giants. He knows he’s 37 [in January]. He knows what his ability is, what he thinks it is ... He understands they got a young guy there that they need to see. He’s a team guy.”

Eli Manning showed that under the worst of circumstances last week.

He’ll need to do so again when the Giants ask him to hand the ball off to Webb at the right time, which should come before too long.

Reese’s farewell

When announcing the organizational shake-up Monday, Mara said his meeting with Reese was particularly emotional. Reese was hired by the late George Young in 1994 and spent more than two decades working his way up from a part-time scout to general manager before being fired by the Giants.

In a statement released Tuesday, Reese expressed gratitude for the opportunity.

“I would like to thank the New York Football Giants for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing franchise for the past twenty-three years. My time here has been filled with many great memories,” Reese wrote. “Thank you John and the Mara family, Steve and the Tisch family for your confidence in me for so many seasons. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Tom Coughlin and Ben McAdoo for their commitment to the NYG and my time working with them. I’m thankful to the late George Young, who hired me, and to Ernie Accorsi for grooming me. Many thanks to the front office, personnel staff, support staff, scouts, coaches, and current and former players for your dedication to a first class organization. My family, friends and many fans that have supported me, I sincerely appreciate all of you. I am truly grateful and blessed for my time with the NYG. All the best to you. Go Giants.”